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Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

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Illustration & Advertising Art

The Fertility Dance

Artist:Andre Durenceau
Date:1940
Medium:Gouache on Illustration Board
Dimensions:Sight Size 17" x 20 1/2" Framed 25" x 28 1/2"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:Unknown
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Full view of gouache illustration painting
Full view of gouache illustration painting
Inscribed by the artist lower left
Inscribed by the artist lower left

A kinetic and surrealist hypnotic work showing an African Fertility Dance that has a similar aesthetic to the covers the artist was creating for the American Weekly magazine in the 1940s.  This could have been a proposed illustration for the title, but the overt eroticism of the scene makes us think it was likely a separate commission for a more niche market. Inscribed Property of Andre Durenceau lower right; a jarring work by one of our favorite avant-garde art deco era illustrators. Nicely matted and framed behind glass in a period frame.

Detail
Detail
Framed and matted behind glass in period handsome frame
Framed and matted behind glass in period handsome frame
Frame profile and detail
Frame profile and detail

Andre Durenceau was born in Auray, France on June 1, 1904, and later became a resident of Los Angeles in the early 1930s, where he painted a mural of Samson and Delilah in the Leimert Theater and worked in the art department of Technicolor Studios. Primarily known as a painter and muralist, Andre Durenceau created murals for The New York World’s Fair of 1939. His artistic oeuvre has spanned many years and many illustrations, and his work that survives is highly prized. Many consider him to be one of the greatest muralists of all time.

The Fertility Dance

Artist: Andre Durenceau

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art
Tagged With: 1940s, american, American Weekly, Andre Durenceau, art deco, avant-garde, black magic, exoticism, magazine cover, muralist, nude
Added to Gallery: April 21, 2016

 

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